


All the Time in the World

by heliotropeheroic



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:59:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heliotropeheroic/pseuds/heliotropeheroic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They marched forward like gleaming hands across the face of a clock. It was sad, but at least they were still moving, the three of them, together. It was cruel, but at least it was beautiful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Time in the World

"You know, you could come with me. See the world."  
Mikasa spared the traveler a wary glance.  
"I'm a soldier. Do you think my loyalty is so shallow?"  
"See, I never liked soldiers. A sixteen year old girl, fighting and killing for the glory of humanity. You know, the whole world's not that cruel. It's not too late."  
The man smiled, just barely, but she caught a flicker of darkness behind his eyes, the way he rolled his shoulders when he spoke, as if habitually shifting some immense unseen weight. He was no stranger to the cruelty of the world. They were the same.  
"It is cruel," she countered. "But also very beautiful."  
The man let out a slow sigh. "It would be a _shame_ for a girl like you to die here. Mikasa Ackerman, worth one hundred soldiers. How many lives could one hundred soldiers end? How many lives could you spare?"  
"I only care about two."  
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But you can't bring them with you."  
"It's simple then," Mikasa turned to face the dusty man. "If I leave, I lose them. If I stay and fight, there's a chance we'll make it out alive. I can never win if I give up. If you don't know that, why are you still traveling? What good is it seeing the world if you're alone?"  
"Companions come and go. You can't hold onto people forever."  
"Goodbye then," She replied curtly, squeezing her fist into a salute as if she could crush her doubts into dust with only her hands. "I hope you find someone to protect."  
The wind picked up behind her as she parted ways with the stranger, rustling through the busy market like ghostly fingers. Nobody seemed to notice, and the people on the street moved on with their lives as she made her way back to where Eren and Armin would be waiting for her. Back where they were this morning. Where they were every morning, marching forward like gleaming hands across the face of a clock. It was sad, but at least they were still moving, the three of them, together. It was cruel, but at least it was beautiful.  
"Mikasa, where were you? How long can it take to spend a stipend as measly as ours?" Eren hefted himself to his feet dramatically, hauling a bag of potatoes over each shoulder. He looked so small and simple like this. She ground the toe of her boot into the cobblestones, as if she could pulverize the feeling that she'd made a terrible mistake into the dirty street.  
"Mikasa? "Armin asked, in that infuriating cautious tone he only used when thoroughly dissecting someone, "You didn't buy anything…"  
"I lost track of time. Let's go back." With an arm around each of them, she made her way back to the edge of town, where Captain Levi and the others would be waiting for them, no doubt.  
"Mikasa, did something happen?"  
"A mad man offered to take me outside the walls with him to see the world."  
"WHAAAAAT??" Eren screeched to a halt, dropping his potatoes all over the ground and seizing her by the shoulders. "Mikasa, what the hell? Why didn't you say yes??"  
"Don't be stupid, Eren. If I left, you'd die young."  
"But you could've--"  
Eren's tirade was cut short by the sound of straining metal and a rush of hot air, like a titan spawning in front of them. By the time Mikasa managed to sweep her hair from her eyes and rip a blade from its sheath, the man from the market was standing in front of them again.  
"Oh, alright, alright, I suppose they can come too. Wouldn't be the first time I've had three, you know. Gets a bit crowded, but we'll make it work. More the merrier. But don't try anything funny now, this is absolutely it! I can't take any more, I mean it this time!"  
It was years of muscle memory that allowed Mikasa to grab both boys by the collars before they could lunge forward toward the man like stupid animals, eyes as round as walls they were running from.  
"No. This world needs us here. We don't have the time to spare."  
She felt Eren and Armin go limp in her grasp, their moment of blind elation passing and reality setting in. That's right. They chose this life. They chose to spend their short time in the world running in place, so that someday, others could be free. This man changed nothing.  
"Time to spare? Oh! Right, stupid! How stupid of me. Did I mention it travels through time?"  
His words were met by a set of three blank stares.  
" You can see the whole universe and be back by supper to wage war on whatever you humans are plundering this time around." The man adjusted his coat. "I probably should have mentioned that sooner, shouldn't I?" he pondered.  
There was a single beat in which no one moved, staring at the man in the blue box while their brains processed his words. What happened next was a blur of warm hands grabbing Mikasa's wrists and pulling her forward, of laughter echoing in a room that was big, far too big, erroneously big. Machines whirred and ticked to the beat of the universe, and suddenly they had all the time in the world. Together.  
"The whole of time and space at your command, Ackerman. Ackerman's boys. Where to first?"  
The question was met by a cacophony of "the top of a mountain!" "no, the ocean!" "NO! the _bottom_ of the ocean!"  
"The entire universe at your disposal and you want to see water? That's so _human_! Brilliant! But you need something bigger! Something that'll really change things up! Come on!"  
"I want…" Eren stepped forward, squeezing Armin and Mikasa's hands tightly in his sweaty, trembling palms. She hadn't seen that light in his eyes in six long years. They were finally making up for lost time.  
"I want to see mankind, two thousand years from now."  
"Now that's more like it."

**Author's Note:**

> I'd say I'm sorry for the secret bonus character, but I'm not actually sorry at all. This is my first time posting on AO3, so please let me know if there's anything I can improve upon!


End file.
